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Our research projects

At any one time, we have around 120 research projects making discoveries across the UK. Each of these projects is only possible thanks to the generous support of our members, donors and local groups

Every project is reviewed by experts and approved by our research committee and our panel of people living with diabetes. So you're supporting research of the highest scientific quality, led by researchers with the skills and experience to succeed.

Your support of our research projects means we can keep tackling the complications of diabetes and bring us one step closer to a cure.

Find a research project

Use the search tool to discover research taking place in your local area, or choose a subject or type of diabetes you’re interested in.

Each project page showcases the details of the research, and if you find a research project you could really get behind, you can support it in lots of different ways.

People with Type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, but we don’t know why. Dr Mudher believes that Type 2 diabetes could have a negative effect on a protein in the brain, called ‘Tau’. She wants to find out more about this interaction to see if it can be stopped, to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Cells that line the inside of blood vessels can become damaged in people with diabetes. Dr Aranzazu Chamorro Jorganes is zooming in on the careful balance of molecules inside those cells, to find out how diabetes throws the balance off. Understanding more about blood vessel damage on a molecular level could uncover new ways to restore blood vessels back to full health in people with diabetes.

There are still many unanswered questions in Type 2 diabetes. How do blood glucose levels change as diabetes progresses and why are women and ethnic minorities with diabetes more susceptible to heart disease?

Professor Nishi Chaturvedi will be using data from the UK Biobank to tackle these questions. She hopes her research could lead to improved diagnosis and personalised treatments, and could also help people with Type 2 diabetes to avoid complications and other long-term illnesses.

Dr Martin Rutter will study key Type 2 diabetes drugs to find out if they are linked to cardiovascular problems. This will provide reliable and urgently needed information about the possible link between commonly prescribed Type 2 diabetes drugs and the risk of heart attack and stroke.

People with Type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of developing vascular complications that include cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and retinopathy. This project aims to determine whether changes to vessels in the retina (the light-sensitive area at the back of the eye) could be used as an indicator of diabetes-related complications well before symptoms appear, therefore predicting a person’s risk.

If successful, this non-invasive screening method could reduce the prevalence of the debilitating complications that people with Type 2 diabetes can experience.

Dr Emma Vincent wants to understand why people with Type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop certain types of cancer than people without Type 2. She will be investigating changes inside the body that may encourage these cancers to develop. Dr Vincent hopes that by understanding these processes, we will be able to find ways to protect people with Type 2 from developing certain cancers in the future.

People with Type 2 diabetes are at a higher risk of developing heart disease. Dr Matthew Gage is studying how insulin affects the most common cause of heart disease: the build-up of plaques in blood vessels. In turn, this research could help us to find new ways to reduce the risk of heart disease in people with Type 2 diabetes.